


Hold a Wolf by the Ears

by StarGirl11, visionaryScribe



Series: Connected Curses [4]
Category: The Owl House (Cartoon)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Werewolf, Bad Parents Alador Blight and Odalia Blight, Connected Curses au, Cursed Luz Noceda, F/F, Family Issues, Gen, Good Friend Willow Park, Impulsive Luz Noceda, Insecure Luz Noceda, Luz Noceda Angst, Luz Noceda Needs a Hug, Protective Amity Blight, Protective Eda Clawthorne, Taking Liberties with Glyph Magic, Werewolf Culture, Werewolf Luz Noceda
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-08
Updated: 2021-02-08
Packaged: 2021-03-14 15:27:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,978
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29298129
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StarGirl11/pseuds/StarGirl11, https://archiveofourown.org/users/visionaryScribe/pseuds/visionaryScribe
Summary: Willow frowned at that, eyes narrowing. “Tell me what?” Noticing Luz hesitating. “Luz, what did you do?”“Well, it’s not so much what I did as much as it is-”“Luz!”“Right, sorry. I volunteered to take Amity’s place as GROM Queen.”ORHaving to fight your worst fear was never going to be an easy task for either Luz or Amity. But when you add in their families histories into the mix and a pair of curses. It gets infinitely more complicated.Part of an ongoing series please make sure to check the rest out
Relationships: Amity Blight/Luz Noceda, Eda Clawthorne & Luz Noceda
Series: Connected Curses [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1989874
Comments: 22
Kudos: 61





	Hold a Wolf by the Ears

**Author's Note:**

> GROM night is finally here
> 
> and no one is ready for it

“Ah, not again.” Luz groaned as she fell backward onto the couch after breakfast. She had a little while before she had to leave for school today, so she had thought it a good idea to find some new videos that King might like. Something to keep him entertained so that Eda could go about her day without having to factor the little demon into every decision she made. However, one glance at said phone saw that the battery was getting low again.

This wasn’t the first time this has happened, nor would it be the last. Luz had been taking videos and pictures of the Isles and her adventures practically since she got here. All in the hope to one day show to her mom.

Which meant that her phone often was in the red and giving her mom alerts about it whenever Eda had the portal door open. It seemed to Luz like it was every other day that she had it there for Luz to use by now, but that was silly. Sure, Eda wanted her to have contact with her Mom, but Luz was sure that the constant whining was getting on the older woman’s nerves. Enough so that Eda didn’t even wait for her to speak before clicking the eye button on her key once she saw Luz’s phone.

While the phone charged and King was absorbed in some video about two cats fighting each other, Luz thought to work on her latest glyphs. The plant one was already good as far as the drawing aspect of it went. It was what came from it that Luz was practicing today. That and combining it with a light glyph. She wanted to surprise Willow with a glow in the dark flower.

And if she could get this to work, she could start figuring out what to make for Gus and Amity!

Sun symbol on the bottom, earth symbol at the top, close it in with two carefully drawn perfect circles on one piece of paper. Then the light through a triangle, or a funny wizard man with his hat and robe, on the other piece of paper. Close that one in. Set the light glyph underneath and tap.

A glowing flower rose from the pieces of paper. It looked almost transparent, and every part of it shone instead of just the petals like what Luz was going for, but it was progress!

“Ha! My glyph skills are blossoming. I’m really outshining myself today.”

King wasn’t really paying attention, which was fine, “Senseless violence! Yes! Death is your god!”

Maybe Luz should’ve chosen something different for him to watch, “I think I regret teaching you about the internet.”

Is this what it was like to have a younger sibling? This itchy, protective feeling?

“Did you know the Earth is actually flat?”

Yeah, this is probably what it’s like, “Yeah, that’s not right at all. It’s a sphere. I can show you more when I get home from school today, okay?”

“Is there violence and death?”

In the planet’s formation and how things changed up to and after humans were involved?

“Yes.” Luz was in the process of putting the flower and glyph papers away in her bag for later when she heard her phone buzz.

“Luz! Your human mother is asking how you are doing today.”

Luz panics and grabs her phone from out of King’s paws. She hadn’t been what most would call honest about where she’s been. Whenever her mom asked how her day was going, or how she was, or if anything interesting happened today, well. Luz couldn’t summon the courage to be truthful.

And so after typing out a few words, chewing on her lip, and wishing she had telepathy in human form, the only thing she sent back in reply was a thumbs-up emoji.

“Ah! A severed hand! Excellent choice.”

If that’s what he wants to see it as. Luz finds a compilation cat video and gives it back to the little bone demon with a kiss on the head.

“Don’t spend all day watching cat videos, okay?”

“I make no such promises!”

* * *

When Eda drops Luz off at school, the Latina finds that, along with her friends waiting outside for her, there are also decorations strewn about and hung up. Balloons and ribbons and streamers in both Hexside school colors, yellow and blue, and in red.

“Hey Willow, Gus.” She greets cheerfully, “What’s the occasion?”

“Only the biggest social event of the season!”

This, predictably, piqued Luz’s interest more, “Ooh, what event?”

“GROM!”

“Coming through! Watch your heads!” A teacher called as they walked down the hall carrying a large container of supplies over their head. Gus was fine, but Willow and Luz had to step out of the way to avoid getting hit.

“GROM?” The name didn’t ring any bells, but it sounded similar to prom.

Probably wasn’t anything like prom, though.

Two people, probably older year students, dressed in what looked like a white and Healing Blue plague doctor uniforms rushed over to a Beast Keeping student whose hair covers half his face.

“Huddle away!”

“You must come with us immediately. Your disease is advancing.” The student in question did put on a show of being openly nervous, and Luz could tell that he really was, but she couldn’t smell anything like sickness from him. Was this staged? Was this part of this “GROM” event?

“Is there a cure, doc?”

“Only one… finding a perfect date to GROM!”

Oh, Lord above and Titan below, this was the Boiling Isles version of prom!

Luz had never been to prom. She heard that some high schools didn’t allow their first and sometimes even second-year students to go. She had obviously daydreamed about what it would be like. If she had friends by then, all of them and their dates could all go as a group. Luz would be the odd one out there because who in their right mind would agree to date the weird girl? But here she had friends. She could help Willow find a date if she wanted one, or all three of them could go together. Luz hoped she could get Amity to join them, too.

The thought of Amity with someone hurt, but Luz would not complain and would help her friends no matter what. With Willow, it felt different, if only slightly, but Luz knew the reason why. She didn’t want them to leave her. Didn’t want them to drift when they found their dates and found they really, really liked them and wanted to spend more time with them. Luz knew not even being friends with said dates would prevent that.

“You have prom?!” Luz would much rather be excited and happy. She’d get to dance, she’d get to see all the decorations, get to dress up and look pretty for once, “I haven’t been to a prom before. Do you think I’d be considered for GROM queen?”

Willow’s mood shifted, nervousness and anxiety clouding the sunny cheerfulness she had just a second ago, “Um. It’s not really something that you sign up for. Or gets voted for.”

“Oh. Okay then.” Even though Luz didn’t understand at all what Willow was trying to get at.

Luz did find out later on in the school day, though. Really, all it took was Amity explaining to her that being a GROM Royal meant a duel in which, if you lost, you and everyone on the isles would be sent to the shadow realm. Or maybe it’s more accurate to say they’d be living out waking nightmares, and honestly, that’s not any better than getting eaten by monsters. Maybe it was the fact that it was Amity who was telling her this. Maybe it was that they were standing in between two weapon racks over what she can see now is a pit in the center of the gymnasium. But Luz knew now, and she can’t unsee what images it brought to mind.

Amity was going to have to fight a creature that could turn into the very things she fears most.

There had to be a way for Amity to back out. She didn’t want this. Luz didn’t want to see her look so defeated and scared. The answer to this burgeoning problem came almost immediately. She resolved to ask someone about what rules there were with offering to take the GROM Royal’s place.

* * *

King looks on as Luz creates yet another glowing rose. This one, like the dozen others before it, was only glowing from its petals. Which is great because that’s all that Luz needs. All Luz needs is enough of these to make a hairband with, or maybe a flower crown if Amity wants to wear it that way. The only difficulty Luz was having at this point was in getting the flowers and their colors correct. She’d asked Willow for ideas, and after laughing for a good two minutes, she had given Luz a list.

“Why do you need so many flowers?”

“I’m making something for Amity.”

It took longer than Luz would’ve liked to get the hairpiece and corsage flowers to look the way she wanted them to. By now she’s gone through half her phone’s battery, much to King’s dismay, in attempts to look up pictures of each one so she could get it just right. A couple of roses lay next to her on the floor, one pink, one red. There’s a peach-colored rose that Luz had just made, and now she’s scrolling through to find the other two that Willow had suggested.

After she was done laughing, that is. Luz had just waited until it was all out of her system before continuing on because honestly, it had looked like the poor plant witch had needed it for how half-way hysterical she had looked then. As if she’d reached some breaking point and wow, Luz needed to be a better friend if Willow had been going through something and Luz hadn’t picked up on it.

Once Luz was done, though, she wanted to check in with Willow one last time before giving it to Amity. Just to make sure she hadn’t messed up somewhere. Luz packed up all the things she would need, made sure she was dressed and ready to leave otherwise, and started for the door. She wasn’t going to go very far without Eda, but getting outside and being able to walk around in the fresh air might help with the nerves.

Fortunata shared her nervousness. The wolf side of her didn’t know exactly what was going on, only what leaked over from Luz’s emotional state. It was at times like these that Luz wished that she could talk to her wolf. Luz would be wearing her pelt up until she got to the school, at which point Eda would be in charge of it. Luz didn’t want to give herself an excuse to transform in any capacity other than her senses and being able to with her mind intact was not what she wanted to have hanging on her mind. With the loose plan she had, it would be better to not risk it in the event that something went wrong. In the event that she couldn’t leave the gymnasium. In the event that others followed her outside of Eda.

Eda only knew that Luz wasn’t going into this head first without a plan at all. Her mentor only knew that it involved running and enough glyphs that even now Luz’s dominant hand ached.

Eda stopped Luz at the living room, an impish grin on her face and a knowing look in her eyes, “So. Are you excited for your date?”

Luz froze where she stood as her entire face grew warm, “It’s not a date!”

Eda wasn’t having any of her protests tonight, though, “Uh Huh. Luz, you’re making her a hairpiece and a corsage for the girl. It’s GROM. You’re going in her place as GROM Queen. Call it whatever you like, but at the end of the day it’s still a date.”

Luz decided to just ignore Eda for the moment, knowing at this point no amount of arguing was going to change her mind. Absentmindedly picking at one of the sleeves of her tuxedo. She knows no one on the Isles knew the significance of the colors she chose for it. The repeating pattern of a blue tuxedo and white shirt, red leggings, and a knee-length skirt that’s a repeating pattern of wavy blue, then white, then red lines.

She had been nervous picking out and describing the color changes she’d wanted to Eda when they were altering it with some fancy color-changing spellwork, and now that she was minutes from walking out the door it was no different.

“I guess it’s a festival, right? Or a holiday? It certainly seems to hold more weight to it than Prom back on Earth does... should any of that matter if I _want_ to wear this?”

“Kid quit it. You’re thinking too much about this. If you want to wear it, do it. It’s not like anyone from Earth can stop you, anyway.”

“... Do you think my Mami will like it?” The decision had come to her and cemented itself in her mind when she’d gotten on the train of thought of using GROM to show off some of her heritage. Her family came from all over, but her Mami, her aunt, and her uncle grew up in the Dominican Republic specifically. Luz wanted to show that. She didn’t care if no one would understand it or what it meant. She wanted her mom to see it more than anyone else.

Except Amity.

Even though Eda is a lying liar who lies because this is not a date! At all! Luz would be fighting a nightmare creature from the pits of Tartarus for like, half of it and be all gross by the end.

“She will once she sees it through the phones you guys have.” Eda says as she takes Luz’s phone and holds it up and brings up the camera, “Hold still. Can’t capture copies of reality accurately if you’re fidgety. Just a few seconds.”

Eda always knew how to cheer her up and put a smile on her face, even when she’s upset, “You could just say ‘take pictures’ Eda.”

“And where’s the fun in that?”

* * *

It wasn’t long before they arrived and Eda asking Luz twice now if she was alright was not doing Luz’s mask of confidence any good. She had signed up for this. She had almost a half dozen different glyphs at her disposal and those weapons she’d seen earlier in the day. She’d gotten stronger, she could run for a while and set something up if need be.

The set up in the gymnasium was bright, compared to the dark of the night outside and the dimly lit hallways in between. It was bright; the music was loud, and some of her classmates that Luz barely recognized were already there and dancing to a song Luz probably never heard of. Everyone she passed glanced her way, but didn’t smile or wave hello.

Why would they? Luz wasn’t going to be joining in on the fun until later. She’s here for a responsibility first.

Let’s see. Gus and King were talking about something that Luz was too far away to catch pieces of. Eda was over by one of the far walls. The only two that she couldn’t spot at the first scan of the room were Willow and Amity. Where were they?

“Luz!” Willow apparently found her first before she could find anyone else.

“Hey Willow. Cute dress.” 

“Thanks.” Willow beamed. “Your outfit looks nice, which reminds me, actually. Did you manage to finish your little project?”

Luz lit up, removing her own headband for a second and showing it to Willow. “Yeah, actually. Took forever to get them just right, but I did it.”

Willow eyes scanned the flowers that were interwoven into the band for a moment. “I bet, these look great though. Good job, Luz.”

“Thanks, Willow.” Luz said, putting the head band back into her hair. “Have you seen Amity yet? I still need to give her the ones I made.”

“I saw her get here earlier with the twins. Haven’t seen her since. I just assumed she had gone off to talk to Principal Bump about something concerning her upcoming fight.”

“Oh, er we didn’t tell you, did we?” Luz realized a bit belatedly that Willow didn’t know about her and Amity switching places. Though she guessed there would have been no way for Willow to know. They had barely enough time to tell Bump about their change of plans as it was. 

Willow frowned at that, eyes narrowing. “Tell me what?” Noticing Luz hesitating. “Luz, what _did you do_?”

“Well, it’s not so much what I did as much as it is-”

“Luz!”

“Right, sorry. I volunteered to take Amity’s place as GROM Queen.”

There was a slight pause for a moment while Willow just stared at her with a dumbfounded expression. “Are you-you can’t be serious?!” When Luz didn’t bother adding anything in response. “Why would you do that?!”

Luz shrugged, unsure herself now what had originally led to it. Originally, it had been kind of spontaneous. Though she didn’t regret doing this “Amity just seemed well really down trodden about having to face GROM. And well, I thought I could help by taking her place.”

Willow just stared at Luz for a moment before letting out an exasperated sigh. “Luz, _most_ students don’t want to face GROM. That’s not exactly new. No one enjoys facing their deepest fears, Luz. That’s not something unique to just Amity. Aren’t you the least bit worried about what form GROM might take when it sees you?”

Luz absentmindedly picked at the edge of the tuxedo for a moment before admitting a bit reluctantly. “Kind of? I mean, I already have a good idea what it will take and how to handle it.”

After all, there weren't much darker and deeper fears than being afraid of how your family of shifting wolves would react when they found out half the things she had gotten into on the Isles.

“Besides, you can’t tell me that your slightly worried about what might happen if it was Amity?” Luz pointed out.

Luz was almost certain that if Amity had faced GROM, what would have happened. And while she and Amity may not have cared for their families long lasting feud. Amity’s parents on the other hand would have been another matter. 

Willow hesitated for a moment before deflating a bit. “Yeah, I guess your right I could see how that could be a problem.” She paused for a second. “Look, just be careful, okay? The last thing I want is for my best friend to get hurt.”

“Thanks for the vote of confidence.” Luz muttered under her breath.

“You _know_ that’s not what this is about.” Willow said with a shake of the head. “I would be just as worried if it was Amity going in like originally planned. You’re my friends. I don’t want either of you to get hurt.”

“I’ll try my best.”

“Please do more than try Luz.”

Before Luz could reply to that, though, Amity finally showed up. Putting the conversation on hold between the two of them.

“Hi Amity.” Luz knew she was nervous but she can barely form words, here. C’mon Noceda, pull yourself together, it’s just Amity. 

She could almost see the smirk on Willow’s face out of the corner of her eye.

“I… these are for you.” Luz held out the gifts with a smile, “If you want them.”

“Thank you, Luz. I… didn’t get you anything, though. I would’ve, if I’d known. You look nice, by the way.”

“Oh, don’t worry about it. Is there a time limit on this GROM thing? Do I need to go over there right away?” Cue Luz’s inability to take a genuine compliment aimed at her appearance.

“I don’t know honestly. My parents don’t really talk about what GROM was like in their school years for some reason.” In fact, in Amity’s experience, her father tended to get a sour look whenever it came up. “And I’m pretty sure the twins used to skip this and use their spare time to prank people.”

Yeah, that definitely sounded like the twins.

Thankfully, Willow was able to solve the mystery. “Gus will announce when the pit’s going to open. So you can probably relax for now. Maybe find someone to dance with?”

“Oh yeah, I almost forgot King mentioned him and Gus were MCing.” Luz decided to just ignore the suggestion to find someone to dance with.

Guess she was more nervous than she had realized. Since King had talked her ear off while she had been working on the flowers about him, MCing GROM.

Any other continuation of the conversation was stopped before it could even start a moment later. As the lights went off a moment later and Gus appeared on the stage. “Well, I guess that’s my signal.” Luz said as she walked towards where she remembered the pit being earlier that day.

However, before she could she was momentarily stopped by Amity pulling her into a quick, yet tight, hug, “Please don’t do anything stupid.”

“I’ll try my best.”

* * *

The fight had gone well at first. Surprisingly easier than she had expected. A spear combined with a few different glyphs was more than an effective weapon for taking out the first waves.

However, Luz had been waiting for the other shoe to drop. She had a feeling that this was a warm-up act for the actual fight. And sure enough, eventually GROM had twisted into the shape of several dozen wolves. All of them look inky black to everyone except Luz, who could see the colors and patterns of their fur, their eyes. Despite the lack of mutations present in the forms it had taken, she knew what GROM was.

But she wasn’t about to let anyone else know that.

Let them think what they want about her fears. Let them think the human was just afraid of some wolves. This was all part of her plan, and it had been frustrating and worrying at first when the monster had gone another route entirely. Thankfully patience had paid off and now she was faced with the wolf pack. She just prayed to God and Titan, she hoped this would work.

“Alright Grometheus. Bringer of fear and nightmares. Monster in the closet and under the bed. You’ve fought many a GROM Royal sent to defeat you. I’m sure they were all strong too, right? They had to be, in order to beat you back every year. They were all strong, and they were all _afraid_. Well, guess what? If you can defeat me, you’ll have enough fear to last you for a witchling’s lifetime.”

Eda looks on from where she’s seated up in the stands. Luz knows she is, knows she’s worried and tense even if she can’t see her face. No, Luz had to stare down these wolves, this representation, and know what it means.

There were two kinds of hunts in her family. 

The first is what you would think would be meant when the words wolf and hunt are used together in the same sentence. It was a hunt for food, either small prey alone or larger if they were hunting in groups. Often it was fun. Hunts like these were bonding exercises. Survival lessons. Celebrations of holidays and birthdays. Hunts during weddings after the ceremony where the newly married wolf in question would hunt the biggest thing they could alone. After funerals to help those closest to the deceased before they rejoined the rest of the pack.

“I bet those other GROM Royals weren’t very good at being prey, though. I know what it is to be both hunter and hunted. I’m quick. I’m clever. I’ll fight _and_ I’ll run. And I can promise that you won’t be stuck in this little arena under the school anymore, no matter the outcome. So, Grometheus.”

The other kind of hunt was only taught to pups like her in the same way that they learned history in school. It was a kind of hunt used by police tracking down elusive criminals. It was the kind of hunt that the pack would only ever use on those who betrayed them.

_It was a manhunt._

Luz had revealed their secret to Eda and King, though she thought of them as a pack now. She had revealed it to Willow and Gus. She had revealed it to Edric, Emira, and Amity, to Barcus, Viney, and Jerbo, though with both groups it had been by accident and the latter only knew of her, not her family. 

She had done a lot more besides. Given her pelt to half a dozen different people, two of which controlled her unknowing of the consequences. Revealed pack knowledge, even though some of it was in the hope that it would help Eda with her own curse. Abandoning the pack, because Luz knew if it came down to it, she would rather call the Isles her home than Earth.

If anyone deserved to be hunted...

“Hunt. Me.”

The doors to the gymnasium slammed opened with a bone rattling BANG.

Luz couldn’t afford to stop with the milliseconds’ head start she had. The turn into the main hallway of the school cost her as she skidded to avoid falling flat on her face or into the lockers, but now she was in the clear. It was a straight shot out the doors and into the humid, boiling summer night air. Said air burned her nose and throat to breathe it in, but there was little choice when the nightmare wolves behind her howled and bayed as they gave chase.

She leaped the distance down from the top of the stairs to the ground, rolled, and kept going toward the woods. Thinking on her feet, Luz grabbed for one of the several plant glyphs she made ahead of time for this and slammed it onto the first tree within her reach. Branches and roots grew and tangled and spread in her wake, blocking the path she’d taken. An ice glyph twinned with a plant one slammed into the ground when she tripped and rolled down a slope. The area now above her shook loose dirt and dust down onto her and into her face as she recovered and stood again. The temperature snapped and droplets of water vapor froze suspended in the air. The thorny brambles that had sprung from the plant glyph were accompanied by ice spikes and slippery, icy ground.

Luz scaled up into the trees, jumping from branch to branch with plant glyphs, aiding her with wooden bridges or platforms to land on when necessary. That is until the demon had proven it was just as smart as she was and had one of its forms follow her and pounce at her from the side.

Luz fell and the false, inky wolf with tusks and horns went with her. She kicked at it once, twice. She used her forearm to keep it from snapping her head clean off and a glyph, she couldn’t see which one, that somehow made it just so she could turn them both around so the shape-shifting demon would cushion the landing.

All that was left behind was goop that reeked. Some of it got on her outfit, but she couldn’t worry about how ruined it was right now.

Luz went on like this for half an hour by her own estimate of how long it’d been. Half an hour of running, dodging or attacking a nightmare wolf with glyph spells. Taking out what she had tallied to be half of them, and even using a couple fire glyphs in the mix which, unfortunately, created enough noise to draw the attention of the rest of the pack. The sword she’d picked up at the beginning hadn’t lasted long and was likely still stuck partly in a tree somewhere after impaling a GROM wolf with it. She was down to her last couple handfuls of glyphs when Luz finally conceded that she had to turn back around. Down to her last few ice and plant spells, two of which she mixed together to help her create more should she run out.

Luz hadn’t been sure if it would work. Using one glyph to create something like a weapon with the pattern for those glyphs as a part of it was something she hadn’t gotten to work quite right. It was easy to use plant glyphs to form vines or roots or plants in general that formed a glyph, usually on a bigger scale. But getting it right on a weapon was frustratingly harder than it seemed.

Yet here she was now with an icicle spear, the ice glyph as a part of the blade so when it hit? Boom. Lots of ice spikes and shards and frostbite. The rest of the spear was a combination of wood and vine to hold it all together.

She didn’t know where she was anymore, just that she was still somewhat inland and that she could hear water.

Luz could hear water. If she could get there, to what she can only hope to be a river or stream of some kind, she’d have an advantage and might be able to buy herself time to come up with an actual plan to defeat it. Her plan up to this point had been to run and get it as far away from the people she feared it’d hunt, if not her. She didn’t think this far ahead because, of all things, Luz hadn’t thought that this would be the scenario she would be facing tonight.

What time was it anyway? It couldn’t possibly be too late. Sure it was pitch black but her eyes had some pretty good dark vision on them, if she did say so herself, so seeing what was around here wasn’t the issue.

Where was Eda? Surely the witch would have thought to follow her, right? Or is this one tradition she couldn’t infringe on despite her saying earlier that she’d be there to bail her out of getting eaten again?

Luz made a run for it. She couldn’t afford to let her brain wander too far and couldn’t transform in any significant way, not unless it turned into something truly life or death, and Eda wasn’t there to save her with magic and her pelt in hand. All Luz has are her teeth and her claws, her pursuit predator stamina, and good old-fashioned human ingenuity.

Thinking on the fly, Luz takes off again toward the river, though this time at a slower pace. She wasn’t trying to stay ahead anymore. It was almost useless to try, anyway. She may be limited to her human and demon wolf traits, but Grometheus was not. At any time outside her view, it could shift forms to catch up or cut ahead of her.

At any point she could be ambushed and… wait.

Luz didn’t stop, but she forced her mind to cooperate and focus on the lack of sound around her. No GROM wolves barking or howling or paws hitting the ground. No wildlife, or what the Boiling Isles called wildlife. Not even the wind. The river was too loud, now that she was closer. Far too loud to be anything besides the coast, but out this way there wasn’t anything she remembered as a beach.

Just cliffs.

How had Luz messed up this badly? How could she not have realized she was being herded?

A gust of wind blowing in at an angle, once she broke the treeline, told her that GROM was not far away.

She could turn back around now, fight off however many wolves or whatever shape GROM thought would make her fear it, in order to break through and get back into more familiar territory.

She couldn’t run, though. No matter where she went from here, GROM would get her or herd her back to this point.

Well. If this was where it wanted its last moments to be, then so be it. She had plenty of fire glyphs and several dozen plant ones left. She had ice and light, but not as many as the other two.

There was a reason why it’s said that you should never back a frightened or injured animal into a corner. They fight back. They search for a way out.

While the rest of the wolf pack emerged from the trees, Luz was trying to be outwardly very calm. Oh sure, her heart was still racing like a rabbit and she doesn’t need to guess that GROM in this state could sense that. But on the outside she was standing at the end of the cliff with nothing in her hands and no plans of running. However, she couldn’t let GROM see that because it could cause so many problems.

She’s glad she still has the spear, tapping the plant glyph and launching it into the air as she calls to the Nightmare, “I WOULD BE VERY CAREFUL ABOUT WHERE YOU MOVE, GROMETHEUS! ONE WRONG STEP AND THIS WHOLE CLIFF WILL GO CRUMBLING INTO THE SEA!”

The spear lands in front of the monster, vines and shards of ice exploding out from the ground where it impacted, followed shortly by fire shooting up from the cracks, coating the vines in flame.

Humans are mostly the same, when trapped and pushed too far. They’re the same with one noticeable difference. If they don’t find a way out, they make one. Even when it’s stupid. Even when it could get them killed. Even when there are far better ways, far better plans, because they’re stressed and not thinking with a rational, sound mind. Luz wasn’t in a mindset without panic running through her veins, even as she struggled to keep that fear from showing on her face for a bluff.

Luz could see Eda and Amity flying in on Owlbert now, close enough to have heard her yelling. She hopes they won’t get caught up in this. She’s using the last of what she’s got and even what she has set up wouldn’t be enough to make the cliff side go up in smoke, let alone crumble unless she was clever with her use of glyphs. Which she hadn’t been. There hadn’t been enough time.

This was all a bluff to get GROM off her back for a minute to think up a new plan. Eda and Amity were both right there, circling above, and Luz really, really didn’t want to find out just how long she could do this until she or GROM went down.

Her internal monologue gets abruptly cut off when Eda flies by overhead and Amity jumps off the staff to land next to her.

Couldn’t they have just picked Luz up instead?! This isn’t her running away from her self-appointed responsibility. Really! She’s just stuck and would really like a convenient getaway staff right about now! Please and thank you!

“What are you doing?” Luz hissed at her friend, not turning her head to the other girl as she wanted to keep an eye on the GROM pack.

“I’m here to help _you_. What are you doing? Do you seriously think blowing up the cliff is a good idea?”

“Shut up, I’m bluffing.” Luz didn’t mean for it to come out as harshly as she thought it did. She’d never told any of her friends to shut up before and found she hated doing it now. Luz made a mental note to never do it again if she could help it.

“You’re _what_?”

She could only imagine the look on Amity’s face right now at the very stupid stunt she’d pulled. That she is still pulling. At least the nightmare monsters didn’t seem as if it had heard them.

“Shh! Not so loud, would you? We don’t want Mr. Big Bad Wolves to hear us.”

“Right.”

Luz fumbled with her fingers for a moment, trying to think of something to say. GROM may have taken the form of her family’s pack, but it wasn’t her only fear. And she guessed it was sheer luck that she hadn’t been further embarrassed by Amity finding out what her other fear was. 

However, before she could fully muster up the courage to ask about maybe going to GROM together. Just as friends, of course. GROM decided it apparently had enough of waiting around. With one of the wolves breaking off from the pack charging at Luz.

Luz had barely a moment to process or react before Amity shoved her out of the way. And the wolf came barreling toward her, knocking Amity to the ground. 

“Amity!” 

Luz scrambled back to her feet. Inwardly panicking as she saw both the monster and Amity was glowing. Was it trying to take another form? 

“Get off of her!”

Luz knelt down, trying to use some old tactics she had seen the adults to separate two sparring wolves. But much to her frustration, it became obvious the wolf was only going to separate itself from Amity when it was ready.

Which thankfully she only needed to wait a minute more. The GROM wolf that had made contact with Amity was now slinking back towards the pack as soon as it was done doing whatever it was that made GROM work. Luz watched for a moment before turning her attention to the other girl.

“Are you alright?”

“Yeah, I’m okay. Might have a bruise in the morning, but that should be the worst of it.” Amity said standing up again watching as GROM started shifting shape. A sinking feeling in her stomach. She didn’t regret doing what she had done on mere instinct alone. But the fear and worry of what would happen once GROM took its newest form was hard to ignore. 

“And you call me reckless.” Luz tried to tease, though she wasn’t really feeling it. 

“It was reckless.” Amity muttered under her breath. Eyes glancing back at the form of GROM that was now coming together and reshaping with intense worry.

There was one of two ways this could go. One dealt with her feelings towards Luz and the intense worry she had of the rejection that might come if Luz found out about them. The other, however... the other was a lot more troubling. 

Especially if word somehow got back to her parents about what had happened tonight.

As GROM reformed, it became clear rather quickly that simple embarrassment was going to most likely to be least of her problems. As GROM split off into four figures, one of which was her obviously, the other two were her parents, and finally Luz.

Amity guessed the only blessing here was because GROM couldn’t properly talk. No one could get the full scope of what was happening. But the hunched over figure of her mother miming some yelling at herself as she stood between them and Luz. Quiet purposely. What Luz’s fear had been earlier... even if her parents wouldn’t get the full story. There might be enough here for them to figure it out.

She just prayed to the Titan Luz didn’t misinterpret the fear. She would owe Luz an explanation later, after this all was done. But she was going to need to figure out how to explain to Luz that it wasn’t her so much she was afraid of. That it wasn’t some shame. It was the terror of what her parents might due to both of them if they found out who Luz actually was?

As the figures slunk away, probably going to reform again into another monster, and Luz finally started. “Amity-”

“Look, I know that looked bad.” That was the understatement of the year. “But I promise this isn’t about our friendship.” Seeing Luz’s still slightly skeptical look, Amity added. “Look, I don’t have the time to explain right now. But I will later. Can you just trust me for now when I say I’m not scared of our friendship but of my parents?”

There was a beat of silence. Amity saw an unidentified emotion flash through Luz’s eye. But the other girl kept quiet and Amity wondered if Luz was going was going to fight her on this. Thankfully Luz finally just gave a nod at that. “Okay.” 

Amity let out a breath she hadn’t even realized she had been holding. Explaining would not be easy, but at least Luz was willing to give her the benefit of the doubt. 

There was another moment of silence between the two of them. Luz thinking something over for a moment before Luz finally spoke up.

“I know you were planning to ask someone out to GROM. And I don’t know if you’ll even want to after that.” Luz motioned back towards the grotesque form of GROM for a moment. “But, maybe I could go with you? I-If they haven’t shown up by the time we’re done here.” 

Whatever else Luz was going to add to that stumbling explanation in why she’d asked this, trying to not make it seem like she was turning around and asking Amity out after all of this when she probably already had a date, it got cut off before it could even start.

“I’m about to do something stupid.” Huh? That had nothing to do with what just came out of her mouth, “And after that, well. Nothing says we can’t dance now, right?”

Oooh, magic dance! Magic dance duel with Amity. Okay, Luz was seeing what Amity was getting at. Battling GROM together in style. Nice.

“And then yes, once we’re done, you’re going with me to GROM for the heart attack you nearly gave me tonight.”

* * *

The dance battle had just been as amazing as Luz had imagined. 

With GROM defeated, everyone had gone back to school. And celebrated with dancing and photos (after an attempt to semi clean up first). It was a night Luz hadn’t really wanted to end and go home. 

In fact, she still hadn’t gone home.

Having much to Eda’s annoyance dragged the both of them back to the clearing she and Amity had fought in. She had one more thing she wanted to do before going home. 

To be precise, she really wanted those flower headbands she had made back. They had been knocked off her and Amity’s heads when they had gotten their tiaras after defeating GROM. She knew it was silly. The tiaras they had won for beating GROM were prettier. But she had spent so much time working on it. She just wanted to keep them to commemorate the evening. 

Or maybe she was just delaying getting back to the house. She knew once she went home, Eda was bound to give her an earful for the earlier events. She had been avoiding her all evening for that reason. 

Finally catching sight of one of the flowers from Amity’s headband, not too far from the roots of the tree.

“Got ya!” Luz said with a grin, kneeling down and scooping it off the ground. It was dirty but still in good condition, everything considered. 

“Oh good, you found it!” 

Luz started at that. She hadn’t realized Amity had followed her back to the cliff. 

“Hey, Amity. What are you doing here?” 

Amity nodded at the head back in Luz’s hand. “For the same reason, you did it looks like. To get my flower headband back.”

“Oh, right, sorry.” 

Luz wasn’t entirely sure if she was flushing out of embarrassment or what. As she handed the headband over.

“Were you able to find yours?” Amity asked, glancing around slipping the band back on.

“No.” Luz frowned, glancing around in disappointment. Maybe it had gotten carried off when they had been also? Trying to sidetrack herself from her disappointment, she asked. “So where’s your tiara from when we beat GROM?”

Amity jerked her head back to the edge of the forest. “I asked Lilith to hold on to it for now.” 

Well, that made sense. 

“I should probably try to find it in the morning.” Luz finally relented after checking the area around the roots for the fifth time. Wherever her headband was, it was obviously not here. And it was a bit late to be hunting around in the forest.

Plus, it was best not to test her luck with Eda at this point.

“Wait, hold up I’ve got an idea.” Amity said before drawing a spell circle, and a moment later a headband flew into her open hand. Or what was left of one, anyway. Luz’s headband had obviously been not nearly as lucky as Amity’s to not get caught underfoot of the herd of students.

Both girls winced at the state of it.

“Guess I didn’t get nearly as lucky.” Luz said gingerly picking up from Amity’s palm. Not being able to hide her disappointment entirely. She had really wanted to be able to put it in a scrapbook of tonight. But all the work she had done. All the symbolism within it had been lost in the smashing of feet, apparently.

At least she still got the corsage, she supposed with a sigh. Though it would have been so much nicer to be able to keep both of them. Even if she saved them, no one could probably tell what it had once been.

Amity frowned for a moment before slipping off her own headband. And casting a spell circle, cutting the band in half at the middle of her flowers before holding it out for Luz to take. 

Luz blinked in surprise, reaching out with a bit of hesitation. “You sure?”

Amity couldn’t help the snort. “A bit late to be questioning that. But yeah, I’m sure. This way we both have something to commemorate tonight.”

Luz flushed again. “Right, sorry.” Luz took her half of the band from Amity, tucking it under her corsage. There was a slight pause for a moment before Luz asked. “So about earlier…”

“Your wondering what the deal with GROM was?”

“Can you blame me? I mean, that was me right behind you, right?”

“No, I don’t.” Amity said with a sigh. “Like I said earlier, it wasn’t about you, it was about them. You know how my parents have always been really strict about who I associate with?”

“Yeah, I remember the thing with Willow from when you were kids.”

“Exactly, you see, my parents have always dictated who I can and can’t hang out with. And I feel like the only reason they allowed ours was because they viewed you as an oddity.” Amity tugged on the sleeve of her dress nervously. “So I guess it is kind of about you. But not because I regret our friendship. I’m worried that they could do if they found out that your from the other family.” 

The unsaid thing still heard in the silence. She was terrified Luz might get hurt just because the two were friends.

There was a moment of silence and Amity stood there worried. Before Luz let out a small sigh and said. “Well, I guess I can’t really blame you when I have similar worries.”

Amity frowned in confusion. “You’re also worried about how my parents will react?” 

Luz couldn’t help the small laugh at that. “No, sorry, I should have been clearer. I meant I’m worried about how my own family will react to finding out about what I’ve been getting up to on the Isles. I’ve done a lot of things that we’re not supposed to do around people who aren’t members of the pack.”

Amity stared at her for a moment. “Wait, so those wolves were-”

“Actual representations of my family, yeah.”

Amity stared at her for the moment. “Luz, I don’t think your own family would hunt you.”

“You don’t know that.” Luz said with a shake of the head. “And neither do I. We have normally ways of taking care of pack traitors and I just about broke every rule we have, being here.”

Luz wanted nothing more to believe that everything would be fine. That all her worrying would end up being for naught. But it was never like she was the most popular member of the family. 

“Well, hopefully for both of us all our worrying will be naught.” Amity said even as she knew that it was an empty statement. She was almost sure her parents were going to freak.

“Yeah hopefully.” Luz agreed. “Amity, are you going to be okay if your parents don’t take this well? Your GROM Mom looked pretty angry.”

“Don’t worry about it. I have places I can go if things go really south.” It wasn’t like she hadn’t had to think about this before. She had been living in perpetual worry about her parents finding out about her sexuality. Her and siblings all did. That’s why they had always had a go plan if they needed to get out of the Manor as messed up as it was. “And yeah, I am aware of how messed up that sounds.” 

Unfortunately, there was nothing she could really do about it. Side effect of living with her parents. All she could do was hope if things really went south than Lilith would step in to help if she absolutely needed it like she had promised.

“Yeah, its not great.” Luz agreed. There were a lot of things that seemed so messed up about the Blight family dynamics. But as long as Amity was safe, she guessed it was okay. Glancing back at where Eda was standing at the clearing’s edge watching them. “Guess it’s probably time to face the music.”

Hopefully, Eda wouldn’t be too mad over the cliff stunt.

Oh, who was she kidding Eda was never going to let her hear the end of it.

* * *

“You sure look tense,” Eda noted as Lilith walked up to her as Amity went to join Luz in the clearing. “Everything alright?”

“Good evening to you to Edalyn.” Lilith said, ignoring the question.

“Good evening to you too, Lily. But seriously you okay?” Eda said eyeing Lilith for a moment trying to think of when was the last time she had seen her this tense. Maybe when the curse had first started presenting for her?

Lilith let out a resigned sigh. “I’m fine, Edalyn. You know as well as I do GROM night is always tense even if everything goes right-” And more often than not something tended to not go right. “-and even more so when your apprentice is involved.” Admittedly, Luz had been more active than Amity. However, that wasn’t the only matter at hand with Amity and GROM, unfortunately. 

“Yeah, that’s definitely true. Remember how much of a mess our Junior GROM was?” Eda said.

Lilith snorted despite herself at the reminder. “How could I forget? Bump ranted on about it for weeks about the mess we caused.”

“Hey, at least we got the job done. Unlike our original GROM King.” Eda said with a scowl at the reminder of just how disastrous GROM had nearly been. 

Lilith’s mirth faded at the reminded of the other concern that had been bothering her all night. The Blight parents. “Yes, I’m not entirely sure what Alador was thinking with that plan.” 

Or what Bump had been thinking nominating him in the first place for that matter. Alador even more than Odalia had always a flare for showmanship. 

That didn’t mean he wasn’t a competent fighter. However, especially in their youth, he hadn’t always been the best at discerning when was the best time and place for something. Something that had nearly caused a disaster at GROM.

Though really the Blights flare for the showmanship meant she shouldn’t have been nearly as surprised by what had happened as she had been. 

Eda watched her for a moment. “You sure you’re alright, Lily? This sure seems to be lasting long for something that’s supposedly ‘just GROM’.”

Lilith hesitated for a brief moment more before finally starting. “I had a discussion with Bump after we got back to Hexside.” Lilith began. “With the two cursed families interacting for the first time in generations. Well, I had concerns to say the least. So I had asked if something unusual came up or something concerning Amity if they could alert me.”

In the very beginning, before Luz had enrolled at Hexside. Before she and Amity had even become friends. She had been concerned about the possibility of one or both parties getting hurt. And Odalia with her pride, not wanting to admit it. 

However, as the two had become close, the concern had faded. She had nearly forgotten the request she had made until Bump had approached her. And while the concern had been for nothing. The request had ended up being useful.

Eda frowned in confusion, not sure where this was heading at all. “Alright, I can see why you did that originally. But I’m a bit lost as to what could have come up now. I mean, look at them-” Motioning back at Amity and Luz who were still talking in the clearing at the moment. “I swear they’re a few more conversations away from finally properly getting together.”

The only threat Luz might have to Amity. Was because of her apparent obliviousness to her feelings towards the other girl. Though Eda doubted that was intentional. 

Luz just needed to a few more hints and to apparently get over whatever was causing these reservations. And Eda was sure they would be one of the happiest couples on all of the Isles. 

“I know, the thing is Luz isn’t the reason for that conversation. Odalia, however, was.” Lilith said with a shake of the head. Taking a deep breath, still some part of her not entirely believing that this had even happened. “Odalia was the one to nominate Amity to be GROM Queen.”

* * *

Eda was the worst kind of angry, in Luz’s opinion. She was disappointed angry.

Luz hated it when her Mom got like that. And apparently, she also hated it when Eda got like this. 

She hadn’t meant to disappoint Eda. She had honestly thought she had everything under control. Eda apparently thought otherwise. 

“Do you know just how _stupid_ of a move that was?” Eda railed. 

“Eda. It’s okay, I was just... I was just bluffing.” Luz tried to reassure her mentor and was unfortunately failing. “There was no way what I had set up would cause that much damage and I knew you’d — I thought you’d bail me out if things didn’t, go well anyway? Eda?”

There was a pause for a moment at the question before Eda had asked in a tone that seemed almost dangerous now. “What if I hadn’t?”

Luz blinked, staring at Eda. That was a singular thought that had never occurred to her during her planning. Or lack thereof. She had just believed Eda would be there for her no matter what. “... What?”

“What if I hadn’t been able to bail you out this time? What if things went wrong, and I couldn’t even so much as help you turn it around?”

It wasn’t so much Eda wouldn’t have helped if she could have. Eda would have jumped in in a heartbeat if need be. But that didn’t stop the worry and concern she had. 

The kid needed a reality check. They both did, in a way. Eda, as much as she hated it, didn’t have the same control over her curse like Luz did. There were days when she had better control of her magic. There were days she had little doubt that she could have helped Luz with GROM.

However, there were days where she would have been useless to help fight GROM if things had gone deadly. And that truly terrified her more than anything. 

“What’s wrong?”

Eda nearly growled in frustration. Of course Luz would focus on the part of the lecture she didn’t want her too. Admittedly Luz wasn’t entirely in the wrong that something was wrong with her. However, that was _not what the conversation was about._

“Not. Now. Luz. This isn’t about me. This is how, unlike every other time you’ve gotten your ass into danger knowingly or otherwise, I wasn’t sure I could guarantee you making it out alive. I had to let Amity, another kid your age, jump into a situation that kids just months from graduation have done _everything_ to get away from.”

That seemed to finally get through to Luz if the girl’s shrinking back at the anger and frustration radiating off of Eda was to go by. Eda had to fight down an urge to apologize. Now wasn’t the point here. Luz needed to understand just what she had nearly done. And why she really needed to be more careful. And that meant being the, ugh, adult in the situation. As much as Eda hated it. 

Luz twiddled her thumbs for a second before responding with a tone that was across between trying to be reassuring and nervous. “Okay, I. I know it’s bad. It _was_ bad. But we made it out okay and, and Amity and I would’ve found a way out of it. Together. And I could have pulled out Fortunata if I really needed her, and there was no other way out.”

Okay, this was just getting borderline infuriating for Eda. At least some part of the conversation had gotten through. But clearly, it wasn’t enough. Time to break out the big guns. 

“If things had gone south at that point, it would not have only been _your_ life on the line. You must know that. And your mother _still_ doesn’t know where you are or what you’ve gotten up to, and _that’s on me_ . Because if you had died? Or had gotten an injury we can’t just make it as if it never even happened with magic and demon curses? It would fall to _me_ to be the one to tell her regardless of how you feel or _felt_ about it. So. If you’re going to continue being my apprentice, your Mom has to know about this. All. Of this. Do I make myself clear?”

Honestly, involving Luz’s mother terrified her as much as it probably did Luz. She had grown rather attached to the kid. And was worried that finally involving the kid’s actual family would cause her to lose her apprentice.

However, they weren’t just going to her mother because of tonight. Or rather, they weren’t just going because of Luz’s behavior during the fight with GROM.

Eda wouldn’t claim to understand the intricacies of Luz’s pack. Of what caused her to act the way she did. Or whatever the heck had caused Luz to get chased by a pack of wolves. But she knew something _had_ to be wrong for tonight to even happen in the first place. And this was something that was way over her head.

Luz needed help sorting out whatever had caused the GROM pack. And as much as Eda hated it. She wasn’t the one that could sort it out. Luz’s mother could, however. 

So it was time to finally talk to her about what actually had been going on. And not whatever story Luz had been feeding her since she had arrived on the Isles.

Thankfully Luz seemed to realize that and maybe a bit reluctantly relented."... Crystal."

**Author's Note:**

> This is an AU with multiple co-creators. Some of us write, some of us draw, some do both.
> 
> As always please let us know what ya think. Leave a comment. Any comment. Comments are great.
> 
> You can also follow us @ wolfbeastau.tumblr.com and see what Puppy Luz actually looks like. Since word descriptions don't really do it justice.
> 
> We also have a Discord server! https://discord.gg/yrBCqKF
> 
> Also here is going to be a sequel to this eventually. But we have to get through another fic first before it goes up. So its going to be a bit.


End file.
